So what did you do with your OTHER hobbies today?

[Skeeter686]

The following 3 images include steps for training the stiff starter.
View attachment 873862
View attachment 873866
View attachment 873863
View attachment 873864I’m
First dough
View attachment 873865
First dough following built ferment.
View attachment 873867
Second dough with more egg yolks, butter and inclusions incorporated. Unfortunately, it’s like thick cake batter not dough.
View attachment 873868
After some more proving, but not enough to be panettone. More like cake. At least it’s tasty and edible. Will give it another attempt in the winter, learning from mistakes.

This may explain why my wife never hears me when I suggest that she try doing sourdough sometime.

 

[Yooper]

Here's my today list:
1. Made toothpaste
2. Kegged 13 gallons of wine and racked 5 gallons to a carboy
3. Baked a loaf of sourdough bread.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I need to figure out how to bake bread.

Somehow it always ends up too dense. I've never had that big airy open crumb like @Yooper

 

[Yooper]

I need to figure out how to bake bread.

Somehow it always ends up too dense. I've never had that big airy open crumb like @Yooper

I use just a few ingredients- flour, water, salt, and my starter. It's sourdough, so there is no added commercial yeast. The key is to have a strong starter, and a medium/high hydration. I'm having trouble with my move to Michigan from Florida, where the humidity means using less water in my dough. Here in Upper Michigan, with low humidity, I need to increase my hydration level of my dough. So it's trial and error, but like with brewing, you can still consume your mistakes!

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I use just a few ingredients- flour, water, salt, and my starter. It's sourdough, so there is no added commercial yeast. The key is to have a strong starter, and a medium/high hydration. I'm having trouble with my move to Michigan from Florida, where the humidity means using less water in my dough. Here in Upper Michigan, with low humidity, I need to increase my hydration level of my dough. So it's trial and error, but like with brewing, you can still consume your mistakes!

Yeah, we tried a sourdough starter once... Didn't work out. Haven't tried that again, although if I trusted my baking ability, I might consider the labor worth it.

But I can't get it to have a decent crumb with commercial yeast either.

I know it's me--I just need to dial in the process.

 

[hottpeper13]

To combat the too dense bread I use 14 grams of diastatic malt powder in a 2 loaf batch. I also use it at 7 grams in my sourdough refresh. It gives me a very strong starter that smells like ripe pears. Guess what?

That powder is wheat malt ground to flour in my bullit. The last batch I used rye malt; worked just the same but gave it a little more color.

 

[fatjay]

It looks like I'm in a bit of a pickle.

Hatch day is friday. My kids graduation is saturday about 3 hours away so i'll be gone pretty much the whole day. This is my first time hatching chicks, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect. Sure I've watched so many youtubes on it, but until you've actually done it, you know.

I'll have my brooder box ready, that's fine. But I also have my marek's vaccine which should be administered within 24 hours of hatching. Also something that I've seen youtubes on, but haven't done.

If anyone wants to chime in, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Agent]

Don't feel rushed to remove hatched chicks from the incubator. They don't need food or water for two days, and I feel the jostling and "cheering" helps the other chicks hatch out as well. And losing the humidity from the incubator can shrink-wrap actively hatching chicks.

Can't help with any vaccination insights.
Good luck!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

I Agree with @Agent don't stress on getting them out right away. I have hatched a few rounds of egg layers. Of course the kids want them out as soon as they get fluffy haha.. also no experience with vaccination here.

 

[fatjay]

Good to know, thanks.

Having seen marek's disease wipe out entire flocks, and all my birds vaccinated against it from the hatchery, i figure it's probably a good idea. The vaccine is temperamental though. It's only viable for an hour after rehydration so you have to move quickly.

 

[CthulhuBrew33]

I did some file slicing for my 3d printer for the first time in a while today! ill post some pics when i actually kick myself in the ass enough to actually get a print going!

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

St Paddy’s week cabbage is always on sale, so I often get enough for about 5# extra to make sauerkraut. The jar in the middle is commercial kraut for color comparison. The lighter looking one on the left is the lighting. Packaged today

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Well, all that hard work putting a new clutch in the wife's car and last night I think it spun a main bearing, so I'll probably be rebuilding a motor in the near future. The investigation into said problem will happen tonight, fingers crossed its a lifter or something but I got a bad feeling about it.. step one of engine removal is removing the transmission... fml, I just did this I feel so bad for her, our car show is next weekend and if it needs a motor it won't happen by then. I mean it's 26 years old and has 205k hard ... hard miles on it. No shame.. when we bought that car we pretty much rescued it from the previous owner, otherwise it'd be in the scap yard by now. Hers is blue, mine is silver, taken yesterday afternoon... before things went south

 

[Skeeter686]

step one of engine removal is removing the transmission... fml, I just did this

At least you've got recent practice? The bolts won't be frozen?

Trying to be optimistic.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

At least you've got recent practice? The bolts won't be frozen?

Trying to be optimistic.

That's exactly what I told my wife... like I can have it back apart in an afternoon...

 

[Ki-ri-n]

That's exactly what I told my wife... like I can have it back apart in an afternoon...

That's a mistake. Never tell your wife when a project will be done. It will be held against you weather it's your fault or not for making a dead line.

I promised to remodel our master bath in our "new" house. It's been 10+ years so far and I haven't started yet

 

[Cheshire Cat]

I prepared Spanish pork and Spanish chicken kebabs for the barbecue later.

 

[fatjay]

25/27 eggs hatched. Vaccinated for marek's, now they're sitting in the tub.

I'll admit i was not confident going in. But now that it's done, I feel a lot better about it.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Yesterday I fished, then cooked my catch, because there’s no better fish to eat than a really fresh fish.

 

[fatjay]

Yesterday I fished, then cooked my catch, because there’s no better fish to eat than a really fresh fish.

What did you catch? I used to fish a lot as a youth, and i cooked and ate what I caught, but it wasn't very good.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

What did you catch? I used to fish a lot as a youth, and i cooked and ate what I caught, but it wasn't very good.

LOL... Thinking back to my youth, catching trash retention pond fish off a little pier with a hook baited with hot dog... And then scaling, cooking, and eating whatever the heck they were...

...it's a wonder I've lived this long.

 

[fatjay]

LOL... Thinking back to my youth, catching trash retention pond fish off a little pier with a hook baited with hot dog... And then scaling, cooking, and eating whatever the heck they were...

...it's a wonder I've lived this long.

I did the same thing. I was pretty bad at scaling, ended up eating a lot of scales. We had a little river, took a handful of frozen corn. neighbor kid and i would ride our bikes down. Walk through a field of itch weed. Any time it touched your skin it would start itching immediately. Made it to the river and waded knee high to mak it stop itching and start burning. Then cast our line and wait.

Actually, as an adult that doesn't sound to bad. But there should be cold beer.

I think i just discovered the appeal of fishing as an adult.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

What did you catch? I used to fish a lot as a youth, and i cooked and ate what I caught, but it wasn't very good.

I caught a keeper fluke aka summer flounder. I have caught and eaten pan fish from local lakes too, but if those little things aren’t fried they pretty much taste like mud to me. (First post has links to images if you are curious)

 

[fatjay]

I caught a keeper fluke aka summer flounder. I have caught and eaten pan fish from local lakes too, but if those little things aren’t fried they pretty much taste like mud to me. (First post has links to images if you are curious)

That's big, these were barely 8-10" long. Cleaned and gutted and a rod run up the middle and over the fire for a bit. I'm not even sure thhey were all the way cooked half hte time.

My mother called the fish brain food. You had to be smart enough to not eat the bones or you'd get real sick from stomach punctures.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Actually, as an adult that doesn't sound to bad. But there should be cold beer.

I think i just discovered the appeal of fishing as an adult.

I just skip the fishing and drink the beer.

 

[seatazzz]

We're getting our ebikes ready for summer, took a couple of rides already around the neighborhood. When we bought them we still had our big truck, so schlepping them around wasn't a problem; now we don't have it, just my husband's Accord and my Tucson. Got a hitch receiver for the Tucson last year, but alas the Tucson didn't have the wiring for the lights. We have the fat tire Rads which completely obscure the taillights when on the rack, so needed some lights on the rack to be legal. This morning took it down to the local trailer hitch place (NOT u-haul, they wanted way too much $$) and got the wiring installed; just finished getting the lights attached to the rack, and we are good to go! Heading out tomorrow, dunno where yet, but looking forward to a good long ride. Also discovered that if I take the battery off, I can load my bike by myself; so I see a lot of fun in my future since the husband can only go with me on weekends.

 

[Sailingeric]

Got up early and got a few flights in.

 

[Skeeter686]

Got up early and got a few flights in.View attachment 875810

It's got autopilot! Awesome!

 

[Sailingeric]

It's got autopilot! Awesome!

I know but this guy has no flying experience at all. He's a menace to himself and everything else in the air... yes, birds too.

 

[fatjay]

I finished my last house battery last night. What a nightmare, but i'm glad it's done. 90kwh of power in total.